mazhar08:

Ruben Frankish:

We need to quicken up our play a little and maybe use Walcott of Oxe to have more technical ability and speed.

I feel that Hodgson is making a good selection in starting with Milner. This is because Glen Johnson is a very attack-minded full back. He is best at going forward, whilst defensively, he is weak. This is why he plays Milner. Milner doesn't often bomb forward, and he'll cover for Glen Johnson when he often goes forward. He's better at covering for Johnson than Walcott or Ox. Same reason as to why Young plays on the left rather than Ox: he can cover for and support Cole as shown against Ukraine.

Agree with the reason, except Johnson doesn't offer a great deal going forward either, I'd give Jones a go myself. Ox didn't do a bad job when he was on the left against France, thought he handled himself well, he isn't a natural tackler but he has the discipline so again an option on the right.

As for Rooney he was as expected, quite rusty but there were some glimpses of what could be, the link play between him and Welbeck was brilliant to see at times.

Ruben Frankish:

We need to quicken up our play a little and maybe use Walcott of Oxe to have more technical ability and speed.

I feel that Hodgson is making a good selection in starting with Milner. This is because Glen Johnson is a very attack-minded full back. He is best at going forward, whilst defensively, he is weak. This is why he plays Milner. Milner doesn't often bomb forward, and he'll cover for Glen Johnson when he often goes forward. He's better at covering for Johnson than Walcott or Ox. Same reason as to why Young plays on the left rather than Ox: he can cover for and support Cole as shown against Ukraine.

My only concern is the zonal defending Hodgson puts out when the team doesn't always sit back deep when defending. Opposition players often find space behind the central midfielders as a result of this as shown many times against Ukraine. Zonal defending works well if the defence and midfield are both sitting back deep: otherwise, don't use zonal defending with a 4-4-2.

shlongconnery:

Seb7:

Good post m8,but Wayne wasn't always sticking to his position,he was tracking back from time to time,but thats coz of how he is,but I get your point though. Also do you think maybe he was told not to track back like he usually does,so he could last longer in the game? As he hasn't played for a while and taking the heat in to consideration,if he was bombing around like a blue ass fly would have sapped his energy very quick and he would have been lucky to have lasted an hour. I think him getting a goal is absolutely crucial for us (England fans) and him,as we all know he tends to score in bursts of between 2-10 games,it is rear that he scores in a game then goes a game or two without scoring. It will be a big weight off his back to have that first goal and I think we could see him light up the tournament,fingers crossed hey.

Well to be honest, I don't think we'll see Rooney given the freedom that Sir Alex gives him as Hodgson is a very regimented character, he is very much like Capello in the way he sets up, he makes teams that are hard to break down and everyone knows the jobs they need to do but he is more relaxed day to day when he's doing it, he knows these players and he knows how to treat their personalities individually so I think that's what makes a player want to play for the manager, not wanting to let a manager down gets the best out of the players, that's why Sir Alex is so successful, none of the players want to let him down.

Same with Hodgson, he's such a likeable straight talking character that everyone wants to do their bit to help him out and he rewards them for it. I believe though, like I said, Rooney just won't get the freedom he gets with United, he will be a little less restricted than Welbeck but Hodgson is a firm believer in having 2 banks of 4 players all set up in a certain way without the ball and no one goes in to another players position unless the other is caught out, then normally leaves 2 up for quick counter attacking, which is what we did, we are playing a very italian way of football at the moment where we just get a goal and normally try to see the games out, we don't try anything fancy, we just get the job done, personally, if it wins us trophies, I don't care how we play as long as all the players do their bit.

For the most part, Rooney played well and although expectation will be high on him, I think he'll thrive on it, we seem to forget he's still only 26!

Great post mate! I feel to progress though we may need to be a little more aggressive, we didn't have the greatest of games yesterday as the stats show! But I would expect a better performance in the knockout stages. We need to quicken up our play a little and maybe use Walcott of Oxe to have more technical ability and speed. I would expect we'll start with a similar team and use the subs for impact. Fingers crossed we perform better but were in a good position and we should be ready for a cracker on Sunday!

Come on England!

I wouldn't say Rooney was in a rigid role, overall. He was actually drifting around quite a bit but only stayed up top in the second half with Hodgson probably putting him up as the leading striker with Welbeck given Rooney's more free role in the second half. This may be because Roy wanted Rooney to last longer and not get tired as he wasn't fully match fit.

I saw Rooney in the right and left flanks and in the hole often. It's just that, since he was rusty, he wasn't performing as well as people expect. However, he did fine considering he was rusty and had 3 players marking him. He gave so much space to the likes of Milner and Gerrard to run through, but they were playing so rigidly that Rooney didn't have an attacking option around him. His passing, ball-holding, and positioning improved, and he linked up well with Young, Welbeck, Cole, and Gerrard.

Ultimately, the minutes he got against Ukraine were valuable, and this could help England in that they could have a world class player fully match fit and raring to go against Italy in the quarters.

I think the fact that he had a DECENT game is true testament to the lad. He was tired and injured at the end of the season, he's now fully fit but is without playing time. He looked as sharp as he couldve done, and lets be honest, Ukraine proved to be a tougher opposition than most thought they would! Ukraine needed a victory whilst we only needed a draw, and then with the gme being in Ukraine they had the home advantage and a huge psychological boost. I think Wayne did remarkably well in all honesty and i think the further we go the more he will come on. Come on England!!!!

shlongconnery:

Seb7:

Good post m8,but Wayne wasn't always sticking to his position,he was tracking back from time to time,but thats coz of how he is,but I get your point though. Also do you think maybe he was told not to track back like he usually does,so he could last longer in the game? As he hasn't played for a while and taking the heat in to consideration,if he was bombing around like a blue ass fly would have sapped his energy very quick and he would have been lucky to have lasted an hour. I think him getting a goal is absolutely crucial for us (England fans) and him,as we all know he tends to score in bursts of between 2-10 games,it is rear that he scores in a game then goes a game or two without scoring. It will be a big weight off his back to have that first goal and I think we could see him light up the tournament,fingers crossed hey.

Well to be honest, I don't think we'll see Rooney given the freedom that Sir Alex gives him as Hodgson is a very regimented character, he is very much like Capello in the way he sets up, he makes teams that are hard to break down and everyone knows the jobs they need to do but he is more relaxed day to day when he's doing it, he knows these players and he knows how to treat their personalities individually so I think that's what makes a player want to play for the manager, not wanting to let a manager down gets the best out of the players, that's why Sir Alex is so successful, none of the players want to let him down.

Same with Hodgson, he's such a likeable straight talking character that everyone wants to do their bit to help him out and he rewards them for it. I believe though, like I said, Rooney just won't get the freedom he gets with United, he will be a little less restricted than Welbeck but Hodgson is a firm believer in having 2 banks of 4 players all set up in a certain way without the ball and no one goes in to another players position unless the other is caught out, then normally leaves 2 up for quick counter attacking, which is what we did, we are playing a very italian way of football at the moment where we just get a goal and normally try to see the games out, we don't try anything fancy, we just get the job done, personally, if it wins us trophies, I don't care how we play as long as all the players do their bit.

For the most part, Rooney played well and although expectation will be high on him, I think he'll thrive on it, we seem to forget he's still only 26!

Yeah you could be right,and agree if it works and we finally start getting results and maybe some trophys aswel ill be over the moon.

Simon H:

But he wasn't as bad as Milner. How the fook does he get in the England team !!!!!!!

Totally agree about this... I think the fact is he has a decent engine on him but over the last 18 months at City he's completely lost all of his pace, I remember just before the WC2010 he was rapid, he's lost it all now, just runs round like an idiot and very slowly... I blame his stupid cheek bones... haha just kidding... But hate to say it, but I prefer Walcott to him and Walcott is not great

But he wasn't as bad as Milner. How the fook does he get in the England team !!!!!!!

It was kind of what I expected. He looked rusty but my main gripe is he does what he does for united. He tries to be everything to everybody. One minute he was in left back position, the next left wing, centre midfield and I personally think this is one of the reasons why England lost their shape. His main role was to link the midfield to Welbeck. There was one point in the first half where he collected a ball on the left of midfield and was looking for someone to come short to collect the ball. That someone should have been him. There is no doubt Rooney is a class act and a quality player he just needs to be more disciplined in his positional play.

first game in 3 weeks,my god, did it show,thats all i'll say about it honestly...

Seb7:

Good post m8,but Wayne wasn't always sticking to his position,he was tracking back from time to time,but thats coz of how he is,but I get your point though. Also do you think maybe he was told not to track back like he usually does,so he could last longer in the game? As he hasn't played for a while and taking the heat in to consideration,if he was bombing around like a blue ass fly would have sapped his energy very quick and he would have been lucky to have lasted an hour. I think him getting a goal is absolutely crucial for us (England fans) and him,as we all know he tends to score in bursts of between 2-10 games,it is rear that he scores in a game then goes a game or two without scoring. It will be a big weight off his back to have that first goal and I think we could see him light up the tournament,fingers crossed hey.

Well to be honest, I don't think we'll see Rooney given the freedom that Sir Alex gives him as Hodgson is a very regimented character, he is very much like Capello in the way he sets up, he makes teams that are hard to break down and everyone knows the jobs they need to do but he is more relaxed day to day when he's doing it, he knows these players and he knows how to treat their personalities individually so I think that's what makes a player want to play for the manager, not wanting to let a manager down gets the best out of the players, that's why Sir Alex is so successful, none of the players want to let him down.

Same with Hodgson, he's such a likeable straight talking character that everyone wants to do their bit to help him out and he rewards them for it. I believe though, like I said, Rooney just won't get the freedom he gets with United, he will be a little less restricted than Welbeck but Hodgson is a firm believer in having 2 banks of 4 players all set up in a certain way without the ball and no one goes in to another players position unless the other is caught out, then normally leaves 2 up for quick counter attacking, which is what we did, we are playing a very italian way of football at the moment where we just get a goal and normally try to see the games out, we don't try anything fancy, we just get the job done, personally, if it wins us trophies, I don't care how we play as long as all the players do their bit.

For the most part, Rooney played well and although expectation will be high on him, I think he'll thrive on it, we seem to forget he's still only 26!

long story short, he had a really poor game and if it wasnt for his goal him and roy would have been slated by everyone but on the positive side hes had 85mins game time which will help him in the italy game and hopefully he will play better

Good post m8,but Wayne wasn't always sticking to his position,he was tracking back from time to time,but thats coz of how he is,but I get your point though. Also do you think maybe he was told not to track back like he usually does,so he could last longer in the game? As he hasn't played for a while and taking the heat in to consideration,if he was bombing around like a blue ass fly would have sapped his energy very quick and he would have been lucky to have lasted an hour. I think him getting a goal is absolutely crucial for us (England fans) and him,as we all know he tends to score in bursts of between 2-10 games,it is rear that he scores in a game then goes a game or two without scoring. It will be a big weight off his back to have that first goal and I think we could see him light up the tournament,fingers crossed hey.

So, after all the dust has settled and the talking has stopped, I reviewed Wayne's performance last night as I had the game recorded and from watching it back this morning and concentrating on him solely, I noticed something that I hadn't notice last night.

Wayne Rooney's Starting Position ;
This is what got me confused to start off with, the way it looked like England were set up it was a very, very strict 4-4-2, not 4-4-1-1 it was a 4-4-2, Welbeck and Rooney for the majority were in line with each other, it seems to me the way Hodgson set up was he had Rooney and Welbeck left up top and left Gerrard and Parker to deal with everything, everytime Rooney looked like he wanted to come back and help out, he stopped himself and strolled back to his starting position that was just in between the midfield and defence, now, to me, this seemed very unusual, Roy Hodgson had effectively an extra player on the pitch with Rooney as without the ball, he would slip in between Gerrard and Parker and make a midfield 5, but Hodson looks to have made him stay up top from the outset, if you looked carefully as well, out of the two of Rooney and Welbeck, Rooney was always the top man as well, if anyone was coming back slightly it was Welbeck, this definitely shocked me a bit.

Wayne's Performance ;
Ok, only playing 27 minutes of football in 37 days is hard enough but coming in to an international match and starting is even harder especially when he was getting man marked by 3 players as soon as he touched the ball, he got swamped, you could tell his touch and positioning weren't exactly 100% but it was slowly coming back as the game went on, I think Wayne took a lot of pressure off the likes of Welbeck, Young, Gerrard and Parker last night at the right time as this was effectively a must win if we wanted any hope of avoiding Spain, I think in terms of overall performance, I'd give Wayne a 6, had he started the game how he finished, it would have been a solid 7 but the minutes he got were very important and I think he'll be all guns blazing against Italy, the counter attack involving Young, Welbeck and Rooney from our own 18 yard box was sublime.

Overall ;
I think to come back in at that time under the circumstances and the pressure, think he had a decent game and I think he will have a lot better game on Sunday, it speaks volumes when Gerrard and others are hailing his return and Rooney this time is being very humble. I personally wouldn't have started him against Ukraine simply because I hate to say it but Carroll did himself justice against Sweden and think he deserved a start, then, if it wasn't working, bring on Rooney but, glad England got the result and Rooney got the winner. More of the same please.